New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-08-01
STRUCK BY A HUGE WAVE
EXCITING TIMES ON THE UxBRIA.

sENGERs RUSH ABOUT IN NIGHT CLorHFs
The Cunard steamer Umbria reached her pier
yesterday afternoon at O'clock She looked az
though she had been through an East Indian
monsoon. Her forward decks presented a much
battered appearance. Hatches were broken,
stanchions twisted like pin wre the bridge
between the promenade deck and the forward
deck was smashed to splinters, and the storage
stairways and the partitions between the steeragc
and cabin were washed away. Even the lamp
frame In the shrouds, fifty feet above the deck.
did not escape but was broken clean off, Iron
rods three inches thick were bent and twisted,
and the big winch on the forward deck was
strained. Bolts and pins were looscned and
bent out Of shape on every hand
The cause Of all this was the shipping of
heavy seas on Tuesday last, when the vessel
was nearly one thousand miles out from Queens
town. Accounts Of the accident differ. Captain
Watson, superintendent Of the Cunard pier. saws
| that Captain McMicxan reported to him that ON
Tuesday the vessel shipped two heavy seas at
once, which broke in the forward matches and
let little water into the cabin. The captain
was on deck all the time, and two quarter
masters were at the wheel, while the second
officer was in charge. There was also a junior
officer on deck, and the regular Iookouts were at
the posts. The were heavy cross seas and
water met over the hatchway between the two
decks. The damage, Captain Watson thought,
was tri6ing.
The account of the accident given by tho
passengers is totally different Among the passen-
gers was Lewis @. Hopkins, of No. 80 Columbia
Heights Brooklyn, who was also among those
aboard the i'll fated Oregon when she sank south
OF Long Island. Mr.. Hopkins has crossed the
| ocean thirteen times. He was seen by TRIBUNE
reporter at his home last evening, where he had
been taking his wet clothing out of a trunk. lilo
said; Although l have crossed the ocean
more than a dozen times and several times in
the winter, 1 have never found the passage so
rough and unpleasant this time The sea
rolled almost mountain high, and the gales wcro
| extraordinarily strong. l always suffer from
| seasic1ness but am unable to remain below,
and spend most of my time on deck On this
trip did not have my clothes off except in
making necessary changes.
''Soon after we leftQueenstown we encountered
heavy sea, and the vessel plunged and shook
in battling with the waves, and even good .
| sailors among the passengers were sick. Nearly
every one on board suffered, and the voyage was d.
little like what is expected in July. On Monday
night there was a violent storm, aud the waves
dashed over the decks Of the vessel as high the
sEary. on Tuesday morning we. were
struck by tidal wave. The lookout
was altered So ss met the
wave i,iquely, while the speed of the engine was
slackeped As saw the huge wave it looked like
and IL rolled higher aud higher it neared the
sci. When 1t struck her, she shivered from stem
to ste,n and md, the 9s cCmS,1g ,mE; Of Of s the
tons on the deck. The officers estimated that tho
wafer was fifteen feet deep above the bridge,
splntered in pieces while the water poured in tor
rents down into the hold; bat the 5aiE heads were
closed. The bridge was broken, and iron sia;:-
force force while the turtle back was
ilattened by the tremendous weight of the water.
| There was almost panic among the passengers,
most of whom were sleeping in their berths. When
| the force of the wave was felt thcy thought this
ship was going TO the bottom, and many of them in
| their night-clothes rushed into the nam dining
room There the same fear manifested as the pas
sengers of the Oregon showed when she was struck:
| OF course. the danger was past as the wave rolled
| by, and the excitement subslded, but none OF us
will forget the feeling when the hinge wave struck
the Umbria aud she felt the shock in all her parts.
Captain McMckaa aud the esttlher other ,Sd. off.
fGH&es a"nt think Captain mi MeNicksn R sept more % San
half dozen h0nrs during the first five days OF tho
| trip As the vessel had been scraped III the dry
dock. he hoped for & quick ySyage S but he gave s;
after getting out of sight of land. aud
we only made eight or nine knots en-
hour part OF of a. the eo. time: The ,s. only only
age happened to passenger who was thrown
down on deck IN gale, and had TO keep his berth
until yesterday | tbink many Of the passengers
had IT SO cold that we could hardly keep comfora-
ble while FRIDAY and yesterday 1t was hot"
Mr.. Hopkins Is president of the Jaeger Sanitary
Woollen Company and had been abroad on busi-
ness of the company
Another passenger said: - The captain was in
his room when the seas were shipped, but
he was on deck almost instantly afierward:
If the engines had not been stopped
aud the ships course altered twoponts, she wonlt
have been below like the Oregon and then il would
struck her. She was half out. of the
wave struck she trembled from stem 10 stern.
The lookout bridge was completely smashed, and
int for the iron mast would have swept the decks
The lEau on the lookout only Just had time to get
out Of the asnger Part of the steerage hunks were
carried away ana there were three feet OF water IN
the cabin when the vessel kee ed over 10
starboard. The debris struea George johnson,
steerage passenger. and seriously 'aigred h.in TWO
ribs were broken and his eyes Were S'a1heneo' was
stitches were put in by the doctor
water came rushing down below Many people
put on ife-bets and cabin and steerage passengers
both mingled in common confusion. With every
lurch the vessel trembled violently"
siameso prince, sad sit was about four o'clock
IN the morning that the the wave s.u struck ue dat us
with noise like an explosion, smashed thr9ugn
the fore hatchTaS and pG11ea ppar@ad SSw" Sssr.
ly all the passengers sprang from their berths and
went on deck, of them clad only in their night
gowns. Women screamed and men rushed about ,9 t9
see what was the matter But when 1t was round
that there was nothing seriously wrong the aialn 1
subsidized and they went quietly back TO bed. he
Captain said IT. was tidai wave.
Iantic is rather queer place to encounter
tidal wavc 1t was one Of these curling hollow
waves The vessel seemed TO run right through
it."
One of the engine-room men said that he had
been in the service seventeen years and on but ono
occasion had he seen anything TO eQuat
the hea seas they shipped That was on the
Seryia. sea struck just the same as
the seas struck the Umbrla. On the
Serya the bridge was carried along the
deck TO the first funnel. which was cnt off like
pine stem. But for the IRON mast on the um-
Among the other passengers of the Umbria were
C. q. Francklyn, E. G. Gilmore L. c. Delmonico.
=. Lorillard Ronald, Mrs. and Miss kernochan and
"Tony" Pastor